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I thought it was MadRookie that tried to blackmail Dave, and that was the beginning to the whole $hit?

Can anyone please enlighten me on what happened. What does Mark @ CKTG to do with it and precise sharpening?
I can keep track of who did what

If Dave got banned by Adam, they seems to be ok now. Adam is here. I know Madrookie tried to join, but he was banned after his first post

The Madrookie bit was more of a hilarious sideshow. "If you don't stop blackmailing, I'm going to use my super-special internet company to hurt you!" Then the followup discussion where I and a few others tried to explain why threatening someone with your company so they stop doing something is blackmail. Good times.

I wouldn't say that was a sideshow. A number of people got temporarily banned, including me, because we used, what I would characterize as "slightly colorful" language to express our displeasure that punishments were being handed down arbitrarily and inconsistently, to valuable members like Dave, Colin, Salty, etc., that MadRookie was only banned for one week, and returned to gloat about it. Others, including Colin, got banned permanently.

I understand Colin's anger. Initially, I was upset when I saw Adam. But the more I reviewed the posts at KF after what happened, it seemed obvious to me that whatever part Adam may have had at first, Mike Stewart was the one really responsible for Dave being banned, and all of the other people getting banned. If Mike Stewart is or has intentionally written false, disparaging comments about Colin, that's libel. Colin is absolutely justified in his anger; Mike Stewart could be sued for this if such statements can be traced back to him and Colin has suffered damages.

Actually, I was supposed to have been banned for only one week. I wasn't able to login for months until I brought this up with Adam here. Adam apologized for this and allowed me to log back in although I have not posted there since and only infrequently read the posts there.

Adam was very humble and sincere in his apology. That's why I'm OK with Adam. However, I'm still not OK with KF.

This is beyond a "blame" issue. It became a kind of nuclear war, where for some reason, people with businesses couldn't handle having a professional and personal life side-by-side. This isn't Mad Men, after all, and folks took it personally.

The point is, Dave was pressured into leaving because people who support KF financially wanted him gone. KF agreed to this, at least through their actions, and then a hurricane of angry people erupted. KF, in my opinion, failed the most, because the have chosen that their website will primarily be an advertisment for socially approved vendors, not a community for intelligent discussion. Colin even did something incredible and called KF's bluff, offering more money than the other guys for control of the forum, and was turned down.

You can point to individuals, you can blame people for who are still friends and who aren't. But from where I'm standing, I see KF turning into a site that none of us want to hang around anymore, so we left, and several forums were born--this forum survived the natural selection and has become a better resource for kitchen specific knives than any other site online.

Has anyone noticed that if you are on KF and suggest someone buy a knife that isn't a KF supporter, your comment gets deleted? I feel like a sucker for paying for a membership to support what has become an oversized, cross-dressing banner ad.

Has anyone noticed that if you are on KF and suggest someone buy a knife that isn't a KF supporter, your comment gets deleted? I feel like a sucker for paying for a membership to support what has become an oversized, cross-dressing banner ad.

What? No it doesn't. Are you being serious? Please send me a PT here to discuss this....this is not something I am aware of....not something I do....and not something I know anything about, but would certainly like to if it's true.

This forum is better than the other one ever was. Everyone that actually had something to contribute, for the most part, ended up here. Not to mention, this place has way more knife makers actually contributing to the general knowledge.

This forum is better than the other one ever was. Everyone that actually had something to contribute, for the most part, ended up here. Not to mention, this place has way more knife makers actually contributing to the general knowledge.

This is very true, think that's a big draw to any aspiring kitchen knife maker, all the gurus in one place..can't get that on KF

What? No it doesn't. Are you being serious? Please send me a PT here to discuss this....this is not something I am aware of....not something I do....and not something I know anything about, but would certainly like to if it's true.

Could be, Adam. Maybe now that you've crossed over to the dark side, the information doesn't reach as far as it used to.

I'll bet you didn't know that I'm still on the shite list, even though my suspension was supposed to be over in March. Not that I give a crap...I'd rather be on the banned list anyway at this point. Really.

Anyway, I'm glad that you're here; we go back a ways.

Though I could not caution all I still might warn a few; Don't raise your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools. - Robert Hunter

WOW! I didn't know we have a bunch of KF rejects here that's cool, I think we all have been outcasts at one point or another.

have to be careful though, like so many other forums, this forum is not immune to cliques, bullying, and things that were mentioned before being formed if not moderated by strict guidelines and/or mission statement.

a lot of people who gaze but do not participate, take you guys serious for advice and opinions, and are easily driven away when these things start to happen. These forums are entertaining, helpful, and informative, and many look to them for guidance.

WOW! I didn't know we have a bunch of KF rejects here that's cool, I think we all have been outcasts at one point or another.

have to be careful though, like so many other forums, this forum is not immune to cliques, bullying, and things that were mentioned before being formed if not moderated by strict guidelines and/or mission statement.

a lot of people who gaze but do not participate, take you guys serious for advice and opinions, and are easily driven away when these things start to happen. These forums are entertaining, helpful, and informative, and many look to them for guidance.

These are good points. However, I think that a few things really differentiate things here.

First, KF would NEVER allow for a thread like this to continue. It would have been locked immediately. By allowing this thread to continue (and others that preceded this thread), it's allowing for people to air out their opinions which, for me, has made me feel more like a part of this community than at KF.

Second, in my experience, the vendors here are much more respectful of each other.

Third, Dave, Jon, Marko, Stefan, and the other vendors, including the knifemakers, all have their niche - they are not competing with each other. Dave and Jon both have sharpening products, but with only nominal overlap. The knives they sell are different. The knives sold by the knifemakers are all different. And specifically with respect to Dave and Jon, because I've spoken with both, neither are openly pushing their products in this forum at the expense of someone else's product or price cutting for the sake of poaching sales from other vendors. This was obvious at KF.

Fourth, and lastly, I think the people here are, all in all, better members. They are more respectful and knowledgeable. The more experienced or long time knife owners here may have strong opinions, but, from what I've seen, they've been offered in a friendly manner.

I've enjoyed being a member here much more than at KF. And I'd like to thank all the members here for a great forum.